RIP Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley, a McComb Mississippi native and a founding father of rocknroll, died today.

From Modern Guitar Magazine:

On June 2, 2008, the music world lost the man behind the signature voice and choppy guitar riffs immediately identifiable as Bo Diddley. Born Otha Ellas Bates McDaniel in McComb, Mississippi, on December 30, 1928, at the age of seven his family moved to Chicago where he would be turned on to the guitar by John Lee Hooker and don the stage name Bo Diddley. The cause of death has been noted as heart failure.

During the Fifties and Sixties, Diddley was the epitomy of cool with his hip dark glasses, black hat, his homemade square guitar and rhumba-like guitar rhythms on songs like his 1955 record “Bo Diddley” with the now classic flip side, “I’m a Man." Both tracks were chordally constrained, but fueled by the deliberate and hypnotic chunka-chunka rhythms that became his signature sound and inspired countless musicians around the world, including Jimi Hendrix; Pete Townshend, Paul Butterfield, Jimmy Page, the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds.

Listen to Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” and the Bo Diddley-style riff drives it. All guitarists, whether they were figuring out chords in garage bands or launching their own claims to fame found his haunting guitar work gripping, so much so that Rolling Stone magazine would name him as one of the top 50 “Immortals” of rock ‘n’ roll.

As a young musician, he found himself center stage on Chess-Checkers Records with such blues masters as Chuck Berry, Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Spann, Elmore James and Muddy Waters.

Diddley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 with Howard Kramer, Assistant Curator, celebrating the artist’s accomplishments and influence by noting that Bo’s Chess recordings, “…stand among the best singular recordings of the 20th century.”

Governor Haley Barbour release a statement saying, "Bo Diddley was born a Mississippian and grew up in a world where natural talent earned him fame and respect. He was a rock-and-roll icon, a true pioneer whose style generated a lot of copies that were not nearly as good as the original. Marsha and I mourn his loss and extend our deepest sympathies to his family."

(Governor Haley Barbour, First Lady Marsha Barbour, and Bo Diddley)

On November 2, 2007 Bo Diddley was honored with a Mississippi Blues Trail Marker, in McComb Mississippi.

Mississippi Blues Trail Update

Bo Diddley performs during McComb Blues Trail marker celebration

Bo Diddley honored (video)

Locative Media and Geo-tagging the Delta Blues Continues

WJZD is stop on state's blues trail

Tommy Johnson: shining light on legend

Friday News Update

McComb native Bo Diddley Suffers Heart Attack

Mississippi native Richard Durham to be inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame

Book Review: Journeyman's Road: Modern Blues Lives From Faulkner's Mississippi To Post-9/11 New York

Marty Stuart & Brandy

Great article and review of Philadelphia, Mississippi native Marty Stuart's new album over at Monsters & Critics. An excerpt: For Stuart, it all comes from what he calls his "Mississippi heritage." "So much of America`s music sprang from there," says the Philadelphia, Miss., native, whose hometown is within 35 miles of Meridian, home of country music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers. Stuart points to such Mississippi music notables as Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Tammy Wynette and Pop Staples among the state`s rich legacy of American music figureheads. "I realized early on that I come from there, and that any form of music that`s from there I could legitimately go to, and make a contribution," Stuart continues. "When I embraced that, I went beyond making music from one street, one town to the whole American roots system that`s bigger than anybody`s chart. I love that."

McComb, Mississippi native and R&B star Brandy is back in the news for her December 2006 car accident. Now she is suing another driver involved "accusing him of calusing the accident which left a mother-of-two dead." (Full story at RapWeekly.com)

Friday News Roundup

Ground Zero Blues Club celebrates sixth anniversary this Saturday. Clarksdale’s James "Super Chikan" Johnson and Tupelo’s Homemade Jamz will perform. (Full Story Here) 5/25/2007

StarNewsOnline.com (North Carolina): At the LAUNDROLOUNGE This Saturday as part of WE Festival XI: "8:30 p.m. Jennifer Glass [Jackson] Mississippi-born/NYC-based singer [Decca Records] Jennifer Glass has chops and songwriting abilities to spare. A recent performance at The Living Room will soon be broadcast on XM Radio, while Glass will also cover Bonnaroo this year as a VJ for Concert TV, an on-demand music channel." 5/25/2007

McComb native and R&B artist Ray J continues his "salacious scandal" lifestyle as reported in great detail at the Black Voices Blog. 5/24/2007

Jackson Free Press: "Larry Brown loved music. The late Mississippi author was a constant presence around the music clubs in his hometown of Oxford, and a CD was always playing in his writing room (often the disc of a local musician). Many of the musicians from the Oxford area responded in kind, becoming dedicated followers of his sparse, direct novels and short stories. Brown's death in 2004 at the age of 53 was devastating, and many are still trying to come to terms with it, the music world in particular. To celebrate his life, a group of musicians from Mississippi (and some from other parts of the country) have come together and created a special compilation CD. “Just One More: A Musical Tribute to Larry Brown,” which will be released this week by Chicago-based label Bloodshot Records, features tracks from 18 of Brown’s favorite performers." (Full Story Here) 5/23/2007

Jackson Free Press: "Mckinney “WorkHorse” Williams Jr. has plenty to rap about. With an easy-going voice, the West Jackson native doesn’t give you 16 bars of nursery rhymes. Instead, he conveys stories of what he has witnessed in the capitol city. “I got so much music in me that I literally dream songs,” Workhorse writes on his MySpace blog. His mixtape “In the Future Volume II” is available at BeBop." (Full Interview Here) 05/16/2007

Wednesday News Roundup

Bo Diddley Improving After Stroke: McComb native "Bo Diddley is moving from intensive care to a regular hospital room at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska...Publicist Susan Clary said Bo Diddley is awaiting word on when he may be transferred to Shands Medical Center in Gainesville, Florida, near his hometown of Archer, Florida." (Full Story Here) 5/23/07

From The Fermanagh Herald in the UK: "At Ardhowen Theatre, this heralds the arrival of the Annual Jazz and Blues Festival which takes place in the Theatre's Gallery Bar from Thursday 31st May to Saturday 2nd June, with a line up of artists from the United States, Norway and Sweden. The Festival kicks off on Thursday evening at 9.00pm with Boo Boo Davis, a blues singer and musician born in the heart of the Mississippi Delta [Drew, Mississippi]. An accomplished harmonica player from the age of 5 he has played with all the greats including John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Doc Terry and many others. A regular on the St Louis blues scene, Boo Boo Davis has toured to and recorded in many different countries and is a true legend of the Delta and a real treat for Ardhowen Blues enthusiasts." 05/23/2007

"Old Time" Jamoboree in Moss Point to feature Jacob Blue gospel rock group, Kappa Kappa Psi Steppers, Wallace Sisters gospel group, and Dance by Letisha (Details and Story Here) 05/23/2007

DDT: "The Stone Soul Picnic Music Festival will make its debut this weekend on the grounds of the Washington County Convention Center in Greenwood. The festival kicks off Saturday at 3 p.m., with the gates to the grounds opening at 1 p.m. The event will feature the musical talents of Bobby Blue Bland, Sir Charles Jones, Bobby Rush, Shirley Brown, J. Blackfoot, Billy Soul Bonds, Nathaniel Kimble, Betty Pageant and The Delta Blues Review. Festival-goers are encouraged to bring with them picnic baskets, lawn chairs and blankets. Ticket prices are $32 and may be purchased locally at Disco Den, Folk Enterprise, Walnut Street Blues Bar and 129 Blues Cafe in Greenville and the Highway 61 Blues Museum in Leland. For more information, contact representatives with Just in Time Music, Inc. at (205) 324-0609." (Full Story Here) 05/16/2007

Bo Diddley Update

Three updates on McComb, Mississippi native and Rock N Roll Hall of Famer Bo Diddley...

Less than a week after suffering a stroke, blues legend Bo Diddley was out of his sick bed and walking around the intensive-care unit at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., reports AP. Though his speech is impaired, doctors told the 78-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist that he would be able to perform again in the near future. His manager, Margo Lewis, told AP she also believes he’ll be able to sing again, following work with a speech therapist. Singing a song is different than speaking. Even when there is a problem with speaking, or hesitancy, we've seen where people can sing perfectly," said Lewis. "We're going to get a guitar for him and put it in his lap and let him entertain people here. People think that would be good therapy for him." Full Story Here

He is still in the intensive-care unit but a spokeswoman said his condition is improving. Diddley's condition was upgraded from "guarded" to "cautiously optimistic" Friday by the neurology team that evaluated him. Diddley is still able to get up and walk around, but he is still having difficulty speaking and recognizing words due to the damage the stroke caused to the left side of his brain. Full Story Here

His scheduled concert at the House of Blues Atlantic City on July 6 has been canceled. "Fans are asked not to contact the hospital, but may send get-well wishes to postmaster@tciartists.com." Full Story Here